Admissions

Our criteria

As a Free School by LA presumption special school Academy there will be a stage admission build up over 4 years according to pattern of demand:

• Year 1 – 70 pupils,
• Year 2 – 100 pupils
• Year 3 – 130 pupils 
• Year 4 – 150 pupils

*The phased increase of places may be subject to change according to demand and only following agreement from both the Academy Head Teacher and Cambridgeshire Local Authority.

• Arrangements for admission are managed by Cambridgeshire Local Authority procedures for admission to this special school, with the agreement of the Head Teacher, for the Academy. There will be no prioritisation for pupils enroled in particular schools and the system of admissions will follow a fair process.
   
• The Academy will only accept pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) within the categories of Severe Learning disability (SLD) and Profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) areas of cognition, who will require access to a pre – formal or semi – formal learning pathway. We welcome admissions for pupils who are SLD/ PMLD with other identified needs: PD (Physical disabilities), Autism (ASD) HI and VI  who will also require these learning pathway educational approaches.

• Once the co-located secondary school is built adjacent to Prestley Wood Academy, the school will revise the admissions criteria with co-operation with the secondary school and Local Authority to enable pupils who would benefit from inclusion opportunities at the secondary school and follow a formal learning pathway.

• The EHCP must demonstrate a significant delay in attainment and, as a consequence, require significant modification and adaptation to the curriculum and personalised learning approaches that cannot be achieved in a mainstream school or education enhanced resource base.

• In any event the school becomes oversubscribed, we will prioritise pupils from the local area and children in care.

There may be the following constraints on admissions:

1. There is not a place available in an appropriate class group to gain placement and gain compatibility of learners for the pupil entering the school or for other learners.
    
2. Appropriate resources have not been made available to the school to deliver provision and services required for the pupil.
    
3. The pupil requires a residential placement.
    
4. The pupil does not have significant learning difficulties (SLD/ PMLD Identified cognition) and does not require a pre–formal or semi–formal learning education pathway.

Admission to our Post 16 provision:

Prestley Wood Academy will not accept admissions for this age group at school opening in Year 1. When we open our post 16 provision, we will welcome applications for admission to learners requiring specialist provision and opportunities to access accreditation below level one threshold or complex needs pre – formal pathway at Post 16.

Our response and what you can expect:

We respond to local authority requests for placements within 15 days, but expect to complete the allocation of year 1 admissions prior to opening the specialist Academy.

The local authority Statutory Assessment & Resources Team (SAT) caseworker has role to communicate with the family of the young person to outline the responses of the school and next steps and explain if the admission is unsuccessful.

We would expect to meet your child before any offer of admission to the school is made, and the school is named on the EHCP.

Tours of the new Academy will need to be pre-booked in advance via the school office once opened. Opportunities to view the Academy are invited when the SAT team submit a request for placement to our school if there are vacancies.

To make the process as fair as possible, places will be allocated in consultation and agreement with the Head Teacher following the Cambridgeshire Local Authority provision and placement panel.

 If the school can meet need but the EHCP requires amendment, this will need to be agreed, funded and formalised with the appropriate LA officer before the placement is confirmed. The school will outline this request in their formal response.

Once the academy is named on the EHCP and parents/carers have accepted a place, the academy will contact the family with information to plan the transition.